Healthcare

Now I don't know anything about the costs of enrolling in ObamaCare because I left the United States before it started, but I can remember paying over $500.00 a month to cover myself and my family! Not only that but every time we needed to visit the doctor, I had to pay a co-pay of $30.00, even when I made an appointment for my son. If the doctor wrote us a prescription, you 're talking at least another $20.00-$30.00 easy.

Well, here in Japan, costs are way way way down. We have enrolled in National Healthcare, which I guess is like ObamaCare since it is offered by the government, but the cost of the plan isn't fixed, it is based on your previous years earnings. Since neither my wife or myself worked in Japan last year, we enjoy full coverage at the staggering low low cost of only $100.00 per month! Recently my wife had to see the doctor and the cost of the visit and the various prescriptions he gave her only came to a total of $20.00; not only that but all minors get free doctor visits and free medicine!

What about hospital stays? Well in America my wife had to spend three days in the hospital a few years ago. The bill just for the room, not including the doctors, medicine or anything, came to a whopping $75,000.00! What was going on in there? Was she getting 24-hour massages while being fed caviar? At $25,000.00 a day, she better have been! Of course my insurance covered most of it, but I still had to pay about $2,000.00 out of pocket and then there were the various doctor bills I had to pay - for anesthesia, for giving her medicine, for freaking saying hello while walking by her room!

Now in Japan, National Insurance covers about 70% of your hospital stay, but keep in mind that the bills aren't anywhere near as high as in America, but if you don't want to pay anything, you could always go to your local post office and purchase secondary insurance for about $60.00 a month and that will cover the other 30%. So in effect, we could pay about $160.00 a month and be TOTALLY covered and never pay a dime for an actual hospital visit. The good thing about the secondary insurance is that you can get it the very same day you are going to the hospital and you can drop it at anytime. Plus, if you cancel the secondary insurance and never used it, you get ALL of your money back!

Back in America, my biggest fear wasn't getting deathly sick, it was the doctor bills that come with being sick. Now I'm not saying that I want to get sick in Japan, but I can honestly say I am not scared to go to the hospital.

And that has nothing to do with the fact that in Japan nurses are all young, attractive women...